The main aim of the thesis is, first, to present a theoretical and methodological perspective for the study of postmodern theory in historiography; second, to discuss and evaluate earlier research on the subject; and third, to show that historians must be more self-reflexive about their explicit as well as implicit theoretical and philosphical premises. My theoretical and methodological inspiration comes mainly from three directions: first, the discourse analytic theory propagated by the political theorists Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe; second, concepts from Lacanian psychoanalysis as propagated by the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek; and, finally, the later Ludwig Wittgensteins theory of language.Using this perspective a minor case study is made based on five dissertations in history at Lund University from 1999 to 2006 as source material. This in order to indicate a strong influence of postmodern theory in Swedish historiography. It is further argued that it is legitimate to speak of one postmodernism, not in spite, but because of the fact that postmodernism is a semantically highly paradoxical, contradictory and unstable phenomenon. The main results of the analysis can be summarized as follows: (i) earlier research on the subject is simplified and unreflected and must be abandoned, because (ii) postmodernism seen as a discursive whole, i.e.

Water connects heaven and earth. Water is the most obvious element of nature. To move in water is for me more than cooling of on a hot summer?s day. It is about freedom and the feeling of being above the state of things.

This study reviews outdoor educational activity, its contents and qualities, whose basis rests on reform educators as Dewey and Freire. These pedagogues? methodology is based on the interaction between theory and practice, reflection and action. It appears from previous research that: Nature has beneficial effects on human health; Physical activity has positive effects on schoolchildren's health and on their test scores in mathematics and swedish. Training in outdoor education for teachers has contributed to outdoor education having become part of elementary schools´ activities.The purpose of this study is to find out to what extent a School of Nature is useful for three primary school teachers´ activities.

This essay sets out to compare political participation in two e-petition systems: The Malmö initiative in Malmö, Sweden, and Better Reykjavik in Reykjavik, Iceland. The main question of the essay concerns the aggregative and deliberative qualities of the Malmö initiative and Better Reykjavik, as well as the relationship between aggregation and deliberation. This main question is divided into four subqueries that lead the empirical analysis. These are: (1) Which similarities and differences in terms of design are there between the Malmö initiative and Better Reykjavik? (2) To what extent have these systems mobilized an aggregative political participation? (3) What similarities and differences are there concerning aspects of deliberation? and (4) What is the correlation between aggregation and deliberation like in the two e-petition systems?The method in use is a comparative cross-sectional study with a 'most similar research design'.

The purpose of this Bachelor degree project is to design different types of services that can increase the amount of re-used timber within the building sector and by that means improve their environmental efforts. By examining how the sectors environmental work concerning recycling and re-using timber as a building material is getting on at present, conclusions have been drawn about what further could be done for improvement.The project has shown that there is a scarcity of information and statistics within the sector, but that there are efforts in progress to change this. Questionnaires have been sent to a number of companies working with demolition and utilizing re-usable materials in order to find out what kind of problems there are within the trade. Unfortunately the survey gave insufficient result due to the low reply frequency.It is obvious that active environmental work within the building sector is important and the knowledge acquired while working with the project has led to the design of three suggestions for services regarded as being of interest for improving the negative environmental impact caused by the sector:Suggestion 1 ? Sale of construction parts prior to the demolition of a buildingSuggestion 2 ? Re-utilization circulation when manufacturing buildingsSuggestion 3 ? Education in relation to the purchase of houses  The positive and negative qualities of the suggestions have been examined with SWOT-analysis and further adaptions and the results have been interpreted.

The aim of this study is to establish an understanding of how the concept educational materials can be interpreted, as well as to investigate how teachers describe their use of educational materials. The focus of this study is the subject ?Sign Language for the hearing?, at the upper secondary level. We, the authors of this essay, both have a great personal interest in this language. Swedish Sign Language is the sign language mainly used in Sweden.

AbstractMaster?s Thesis in Comparative literatureTitle: Ghettoiserade Vampyrer. En studie av barnvampyrlitteratur och dess betydelse för vampyrlitteraturgenren (Ghettoized Vampires. A study of children?s vampire literature and its significance for the vampire literature genre)Writer: Peter KostenniemiDepartment of Literature, History of Ideas and ReligionSupervisor: Anna NordenstamExaminer: Yvonne LefflerKey Words: Vampire literature, children?s literature, Der kleine Vampir, Nattens BørnIn vampire literature research the focus usually lies on adult and, to some extent, young adult fiction.

Societies are surrounded by unaware attitudes and views about what is masculine and what is feminine and this can contribute to people being raced differently. Boys and girls are shaped to think and act in different ways from an early age because of their gender. According to the curriculum in the Swedish school system, the school has an important task to prevent such perceptions young people have about sex and gender. Reading books are still a central source where students gather information in the Swedish school. Therefore, I find it interesting to examine how gender is produced in three Swedish reading books from three different periods (1950s, 1970s and 2000s) to see what similarities and differences there are between the texts and the study has been based on three questions:How are men/boys and women/girls described in the reading books based on their characteristics, interests and pursuits?How much space in the texts are represented by men/boys and by women/girls?What masculinities and femininities can be found in the texts and which ones are the most desirable?I have used a text analysis in my research to analyse the three reading books and based my theory on that gender is a social construction.

Deposits can be formed in the paper machine due to sticky materials from wood and recycled paper. These deposits get stuck on process equipment and cause the product quality to deteriorate and the efficiency of the paper machine is reduced. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding about deposits among machine operators, and to suggest methods that can be used to reduce the amount of deposits formed in Bravikens paper machines.To fulfill the purpose of the thesis a pre-study, a literature review and interviews with machine operators and production staff, were carried out. These methods led to the planning and creation of an education about deposits for machine operators.The education about deposits for machine operators consisted of an interactive lecture to introduce the subject of deposits and a subsequent discussion. This approach was chosen to give the machine operators the opportunity to discuss their work situation on the paper machines related to their new knowledge about deposits.

The purpose of this essay is to study the coming into being of two newly built public libraries in Sweden, Malmö public library and Linköping public library. In both cases, the architect was appointed through a competition. We have examined the degree of importance that one has put on the buildings functionality and aesthetics, respectively. Furthermore we have studied how the cooperation between library staff and the architects has worked, and finally we have studied to which degree the parties involved think that the interests of the users has been taken into concern. The first main chapter of the report is an overview of the literature found on the subject where we present theories on library architecture used in Sweden as well as abroad.

Aim: Nation Branding has become an important phenomenon during the last couple of years. The concept talks about how to promote a product by using the features of a nation to gain profit. Among the years many countries has established a strong Nation Brand abroad. In the long run many companies have chosen to use these benefits in an efficient way by promoting their own country brand, especially in their internationalization process. The aim of this study is to see what factors that influence companies in the Swedish food industry while using the fact that they are Swedish when they enter foreign markets. Method: Data was collected through interviews with export managers and sales managers at 6 Swedish companies exporting products within the food industry.

Water constructions - as a design element in public spaces is the title of this Master thesis, with a focus on waters function and meaning in the urban environment. By way of introduction, mans relationship to places is described and the factors that contribute to the reality that we prefer some places more than others. A good place to stay is open but well defined, gives protection, offers a good view and is varying in topography and vegetation, together with contents of single landscape elements like visible water. This study then continues to discuss mans relationship to water and its means for our wellbeing. Despite the fact that people have a different relations to water due to personality, background and age, it?s an element that raises positive feelings, interest and aesthetic pleasure for most people.

The distribution of work related tasks depending on gender leads to different appraisal depending on which gender is performing a task. This aim of this research is to study how gender differences influence task allocation within the restaurant industry. The study is inspired by a discourse analysis perspective complemented by constructivist and critical pragmatic theory. Interviews were conducted in two focus groups with seven participants in total. The analysis is divided into four sections which answer six discourse analytical questions using the interview material.

The process of food production has changed dramatically over the past one hundred years. Industrialization has led to large units of production, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and retail business. The final food product, in this system, is quite often fairly anonymous and the consumer will most likely know very little concerning the origin of the product. In recent years, the market for locally produced food has grown. There is an increasing interest in and demand for locally produced food items.

Background: The Swedish Parliament passed a law change in late 2010, suspending the former requirement for all Swedish incorporated companies to have an auditor. The new limit values allow the smallest incorporated companies to dismiss the auditor of the company (or not appoint one in the case of a newly started company). The opinions of abolishing mandatory audit vary, and little research has been done post to the law change. However, a new situation has arisen, meaning the optional choice of voluntary audit, for some companies.Aims and research questions: The aim of the thesis is to examine the reasons behind voluntary audit in Sweden, as well as what value companies, having chosen audit, see in their auditor. The following research questions have been used in order to fulfill the aim of the thesis: ?Why do small private owner-led incorporated companies in Sweden voluntarily choose audit?? and ?What value does the voluntarily chosen auditor add to the companies??Methodology: The research questions were formulated after reviewing relevant literature and scientific articles regarding the topic of voluntary audit, as well as the recent law change in Sweden.